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When I told my next door neighbor in May of 2008 that I was going to sell the house along with all of my personal possessions and move to Chiclayo Peru with my Peruvian wife, his response was..” That’s a path not many men walk.” I had that impression as well, but have since learned that many men and women have walked and continue to walk that path. There is a large expatriate community in Lima and a significant number of gringos scattered about the remainder of the country from the larger coastal cities to the smallest jungle villages. Many of them have personal blogs in which they offer travel advice, news, and a wealth of other information along with their individual experiences. The purpose of this blog is not so far reaching. My intent is simply to record my experiences and observations for family, friends and anyone else who may be interested, but mostly for myself. Peru is to me a musical, magical land and I’ve found that writing about it helps me to preserve the beauty I experience as I explore this enchanting country. Anyway, thanks for visiting my site. Feel free to come back again, and leave a comment if you’d care to or send an email to me at kaetan1@gmail.com.

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Friday, August 28, 2015

Answers to some recently asked questions

We’ve gotten some questions from several readers
in the last few weeks that we’d like to respond to.

First, why are we spelling the name of the
village Reynoza with a Z when all of the photos show it with an S? The answer
is that official documents in the office of education in Tùcume spell it with a
Z, including the official roadmap of the Tùcume District. The spelling is not consistent even in the village. The lettering above
the door of the primary school uses ReynoSa, while the spelling above the pronoei school
is ReynoZa. We’re using Reynoza to be sure that our required paperwork matches the official spelling.

Secondly, a sharp eyed reader has asked who
the ‘gringa’ is who has shown up in several Reynoza photos. Her name is Chiara and she is a charming
young woman from Germany who, through the cooperation of an organization the
purpose of which I don’t completely understand was placed with a sponsor
family in Tùcume and assigned to the primary school in Reynoza to learn and assist
for a 3 month period. She has become so enamored with Peruvian culture and its “friendly
people” that she recently extended her stay for another 3 months. She is looking
forward to seeing and taking part in a December chocolatada.

Another question we’ve been asked is what
if anything is happening regarding the issue of a permanent school in the
village of El Pavo. It’s gratifying to see that readers are following and have
an interest in that story. The situation remains unclear. The basic issue as I understand it is that the
authorities in Tùcume agree on the need for a permanent school location in El pavo. The sticking
point is that the villagers want a pronoei while the authorities want to build
a kinder “sometime in the future”.

The reason why the authorities want a
kinder is because a kinder is a national school that would be built, furnished
and maintained (in theory) by the Minister of Education of the Lambayeque
Region with funds from Lima, thus having minimum impact on the Tùcume District
budget. The villagers want a pronoei because it would be controlled by the district
and village, and would probably happen sooner than the national government could
construct a kinder. Another reason the villagers want local control is because
their long-time director/teacher Amelia does not have the education degree
necessary to teach in a national school. If a kinder were built Amelia would be
replaced with a Lambayeque appointed teacher.

Degree or not, we feel that Amelia is completely
competent to continue teaching 3 to 5 year olds as she’s done for years…whether
it’s in a building called a kinder or pronoei is irrelevant. But we also see
the benefit of a kinder, with brick and mortar walls, water and electricity and
restrooms as opposed to a pronoei prefab shell with little else.

We’ve been asked to accompany a delegation
of villagers to the mayor’s office in Tùcume, and though we have a preference
(a kinder with a grandfather clause to retain Amelia) we don’t feel it’s our
place to advocate a position one way or the other. We’ll keep in touch with the
situation and if it should occur that there is an opportunity for Promesa Peru
to assist with getting a school built we’ll revisit the issue.